“Nothing.” I rest my temple against his chest and his arms tighten further.
“Not thinking about running, are you?” he asks, and I shake my head no. “Good, especially since we’re in the middle of nowhere and there is nowhere for you to run to.” He smooth’s a hand down the back of my head, then I feel his lips at the top of my hair as a smile curves my lips. “Hungry?”
“A little,” I answer quietly. I’m actually starving, but I’d rather go without food than move from where I am right now.
“I need to go up and check things out, but after that, I’ll get us something to eat and set you up with the satellite phone so you can call Lyra.”
Tears suddenly fill my eyes, and I feel like an idiot for not trusting him all along. “Thank you.”
His fingertips curve around my jaw and he pulls up gently. When our eyes meet, his expression softens. “Let’s get up so you can call our girl.”
“Sure,” I agree, but I don’t move and neither does he. We both just stare at each other for a long moment. I don’t know who leans in first, but our lips touch and our mouths open. The kiss is soft and seeking, slow and sensual. When he rolls me to my back and pulls his mouth from mine, my eyes flutter open. I find him looming over me, searching my gaze. I’m not sure what he’s looking for, but when his forehead drops to rest softly on mine, I know he found it. “Mine. Fuck. Finally, all mine.”
My lips part and Yours! screams in my mind as his mouth covers mine again. I’m not sure how long we lie in bed making out, but when he finally pulls his mouth from mine with a groan, we are both breathing heavily and my stomach is loudly roaring for me to feed it. “I might have lied about being only a little hungry,” I admit when my stomach growls again.
Laughing loudly, he gets off the bed then pulls me up to stand in front of him. “You take the bathroom first.” He nods to the small door at the back of the cabin. “If I’m not down here when you get out, come up top.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.” He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear then leans down, kissing my forehead. When I open my eyes that I didn’t know were closed, he’s gone. With a deep breath, I go to my bag, grab my toothbrush, and take it with me to the bathroom. I brush my teeth and wash my face then go back to my bag to change out of my jeans and into a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved top with a scoop neck and a hood. I brush my hair and put it up into a bun then head upstairs.
Denver is in the wheelhouse when I make it up to the top deck, so I head straight to him. When he sees me, he smiles softly through the glass and calls me in with a wave of his hand. I step inside, and as soon as I’m within touching distance, he pulls me down onto his lap. I sit and listen to him talk on the CB radio about fish and the tide, and I lose interest after that, because his fingers slide under the edge of my shirt and skim over my skin, causing goose bumps. When his lips touch my neck, my breath stutters and I moan, dropping my head to the side to give his mouth more access.
I turn to look over my shoulder at him when he pulls his mouth away, and as my eyes connect with him, I see he’s smiling. I’ve seen him smile a lot, but I’ve never seen him smile like he is right now. Happy, content, like he’s right where he wants to be.
I lose his smile when the microphone covers his mouth and he presses his thumb down on the button on the side to talk. “Walt, I gotta go. Good luck out there today. Stay safe, brother.” He puts the mic back into its holder then wraps his hand around the back of my neck, pulling my face closer to his. “What is it?”
“I…. You’re happy,” I blurt like a total idiot, and his head jerks back.
“What?”
“I mean, you… you just seem really happy.”
“You’re here with me,” he states, like having me with him means everything. My chin wobbles. He really does love me. What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I never notice what was happening between us until now? “You okay?”
“No. I think I might cry again,” I answer truthfully, and his eyes soften. “I… I don’t know why I didn’t notice this thing between us before now.”
“You weren’t ready,” he says, and my eyes slide over his shoulder to the view of the ocean, and the land and trees just beyond that. “Look at me, baby.” I slowly meet his gaze once more. “It’s time to move forward.” I nod, and he leans in, brushing his lips across mine. “Come on.” He helps me off his lap. “Lets go eat, and then call Lyra.”
“Please tell me you have coffee,” I say, as we head down the steps, him in front of me.
“I have coffee.” He winks at me over his shoulder.
When we reach downstairs, he shows me where the stuff is to make a pot of coffee then heads into the bathroom, where I hear the faucet turn on. With the coffee brewing, I make the bed then repack my bag and tuck it away for something to do. Plus, with how small the space is, it seems even smaller with things left out and about.
When Denver comes out, he gives me a quick kiss then hands me a cup of coffee and the phone that is already ringing when I put it to my ear.
“Hello,” Shel answers on the second ring.
“Hey, Shel. Is Ly awake yet?” I ask, watching Denver spray a bowl with cooking spray then beat two eggs in it before placing them in the microwave.
“Yep, she just sat down to eat breakfast. You okay?”
My stomach flutters as Denver smiles at me, and I whisper, “Totally.”
“So you two worked things out?” she asks, sounding hopeful. God I love her.
“Yeah, we’re good.”
“Good.” I hear relief in her voice. “Hold on. Here’s Lyra. Love you, honey.”
“Love you too.”
“Mommy.”
“Hey, baby, you okay?”
“Grandpa gave me cake for breakfast,” she answers, and I hear my dad say in the background that it was supposed to be a secret. I listen to her giggle.
“I miss you.”
“Grandma said you’re with Denver on his boat.”
“I am,” I concur.
“I want to go on his boat.”
“Soon, baby.”
“Can I talk to him?”
“Sure,” I laugh. “Hold on. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mama.”
“Ly wants to talk to you.” I hold out the phone.
“Hey, gorgeous.” He winks at me as he puts the phone to his ear. “Miss you more.” He laughs as he shakes his head. “Promise. Me, you, and your Mama will all come out on the boat for a night sometime this summer. Right.” He shakes his head again, and then his face softens along with his voice. “Love you too. I’ll talk to you soon.” He hands me back the phone.
“I miss you, baby,” I say again when I put the phone back to my ear.
“She already ran off to go play,” Shel says, and I smile. Figures I’m already forgotten about.
“Kiss and hug her for me.
“Will do. Have fun.”
“I will. And Shel?” I call before she can hang up.
“Yeah, honey?”
“Thank you… again, for everything.”
“Anytime, sweetheart. You know that.” I do, which means I’m lucky. I might have gotten the short end of the stick where my mom is concerned, but Shel is the best stepmom a girl could ask for. “Love you. Talk to you soon.”
“Soon.” I hang up then watch Denver smear mayo on the bread he just popped out of the toaster, dump the microwaved eggs on the toast, and then add a slice of cheese. “Eat.” He hands me the egg sandwich wrapped in a paper towel. I never would have thought eggs cooked in the microwave could taste good, but when I take a bite from the sandwich, I find they are actually fluffy and surprisingly delicious. “Good?” he asks, making his own sandwich.
I chew then swallow before I answer. “Yes, very. Who knew eggs cooked in a microwave could be so awesome.”
“Fisherman’s breakfast.” He grins. “When we’re out here for days, we gotta find ways to eat. This is one of the things I came up with. Took me ages to f
igure out that I needed to spray the bowl with cooking spray before mixing the eggs to keep them from sticking, but after that, I was set.”
“Good to know.” I smile as he sits down next to me on the bed to eat his own sandwich. “So what are we going to do today?” I ask between bites.
“This,” he answers, gesturing to me with a flick of his fingers.
“This?”
“Just this. All I’ve ever wanted is you and me to spend time together.”
God, if he keeps saying things like that, I’m going to keep crying like the girls in the sappy romance movies Shel loves to watch. “Sounds good.” I swallow over the lump in my throat.
“You gonna cry?”
“No,” I lie.
He grins, leaning in and kissing my temple before looking into my eyes. “You’re eyes look a little wet.”
“Whatever.” I roll my eyes to the ceiling and fight back a smile as he starts to laugh.
“I’ve got my laptop and some movies. We can lay in bed and watch something. Then later, we can go up and see if we can catch something for dinner.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He stands then walks across the small space to a cupboard, opening it up. He pulls out a CD folder, handing it to me, and I scan through about a hundred different movies, a few scary, most of them action. I settle on one of the scarier ones then curl up next to Denver in bed, my head on his chest. We half watch the movie between making out, and when we head up to see about catching dinner, I know he was right. Even though I miss my baby like crazy, just him and me spending time together is a pretty perfect way to spend the day.
Chapter 9
_______________
Denver
IN THE WHEELHOUSE WITH BRE on my lap, we sit in silence, staring out at the ocean. I don’t know what she’s thinking about, but I’m thinking these last couple days have been fucking perfect and are coming to an end way too fucking quickly.
“You ready to head back to town tomorrow morning?”
Her question causes my fingers that are running through her hair to pause, and I pull in a breath. I’m not ready to head back to town. I wish we could stay out here forever, and if Lyra were here with us, I’d make it happen, at least for a few more days. But just like Bre, I miss our girl, and unfortunately, I need to get back to town so I can get ready for the next opener.
“No,” I answer, and she looks at me over her shoulder. “Are you ready?”“I miss Ly like crazy, but this has been nice. I like spending time with you out here. I wish we had a little longer.” She rests her head back on my shoulder and wraps her arms around my waist.
“Like I told Ly, we’ll bring her out this summer for a night, and if we can get away, you and I can come back out again just the two of us.”
“I’d like that,” she agrees, letting out a long breath. “When we get back, I have to talk to Gabe’s parents.”
“About what?” I ask, hearing the tension in her voice.
“When they came over to the house for Ly’s birthday, they asked me if they could take her away with them for a couple weeks this summer to visit Gabe’s grandmother in the lower forty-eight. I guess she isn’t doing so well, and they want Ly to have a chance to meet her before it’s too late.”
“Are you letting them take her?” I question, my gut tightening at the idea of Lyra being forced on a trip with two people she doesn’t really know. Yes, I know they’re her grandparents, but my mom and dad have spent more time with Lyra since she was born than they have.
“No, that’s what I need to talk to them about, and I know they’re not going to be happy with me when I give them my answer.”
“They’ll understand,” I say quietly, running my hand down her back.
“They won’t, but I don’t like the idea of being away from Ly for two weeks. And I really don’t like the idea of her being alone with them for two weeks in a state so far away it’d take me at least a day to get to her if something happened.”
“Do you think they’d hurt her?”
“No, not at all. But they aren’t like normal parents.” She tips her head back to look at me. “They even make my mom look like Mother of the Year, and you know my mom is totally not that.” She frowns. “They don’t even hug.”
“Pardon?”
“They don’t hug or touch. They don’t show any kind of affection at all. And Ly is used to that; she’s use to hugs and kisses and being tucked in at night and cuddled in the morning when she first wakes up.” I know that, since I’ve given her all that since the day she was born. “A part of me—the part of me that loved their son and feels guilty that Ly will never really know him—wants to let them take her. But if I did, I know Ly would be freaked out by them after the first night.”
“You have nothing to feel guilty about,” I state forcefully, and her eyes meet mine once more. “You were married to their son, not to them. They’ve had a chance to play a role in Lyra’s life, and they chose what role they wanted to play. You have given them every opportunity to be around, but they haven’t really taken it.”
“I know that, but—”
“No.” I shake my head, cupping her cheek. “No buts. I haven’t been around them much, but at Lyra’s party, they didn’t spend much time with her. They didn’t try to talk to the other people in their granddaughter’s life to see who was around her and what role everyone played. They came and stood in the corner and kept to themselves. That’s them, and I get that, but how they are is not on you, and even if Gabe were alive, that would still be the truth. Them even asking you to take Lyra away from you and the rest of her family for two weeks to spend time with them and other people she doesn’t know just shows they don’t care how that could affect her. If she were older, I might be a little more understanding, but she’s only four years old. She wouldn’t get it, and she’d likely be traumatized by the situation. Not fucking happening.” When I finish speaking, I see that her lips are parted in awe.
“You love her.”
“You know I do.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I mean, you really love her. You love her like I love her.”
Understanding fills my chest, and I slide my fingers across her cheek while dipping my face closer to hers. “Baby, the moment I held her in my arms, I fell in love with her. I knew then that I’d do everything within my power to protect her. She’s not my blood, but she’s a part of my heart all the same. I love her down to my marrow, like she’s my own.”
“She loves you,” she states firmly.
“I know she does, and I will forever cherish that. It’s a gift I don’t take for granted.”
“You’re going to make me cry again,” she whispers, as tears fill her eyes. I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I can’t help it. “It’s not funny.” She smacks my chest when my body starts to shake. “You’re turning me into a giant baby.”
“You’re not a baby. You’ve just got a lot going on.”
“I’m going to keep telling myself that, so I don’t feel like a dork for crying every five minutes when I’m around you.”
“You think you can hold off on the crying business while we figure out dinner?”
“Maybe.” She shrugs pouting her bottom lip out. “What are we having?”
“I think I have a couple salmon steaks in the fridge. I also have more of that salad you liked.”
“The potato one with the peas and bacon?” she asks hopefully.
“Yeah.” “Maybe I can hold off crying for that,” she mummers, and I kiss her smiling lips before helping her off my lap. “Can we eat up here and watch the sunset?”
“If that’s what you want.” I follow her downstairs and we make dinner together, using the hotplate I have and the microwave to heat up some creamed corn. When dinner’s done, we take our plates up to the deck and eat looking out at the ocean. The sun has set, but because it’s summer, it won’t fully disappear; the sky won’t go completely black. It’s a beautiful night. The water is calm and the air is warm. When
we’re finished eating, I take our empty plates back down to the kitchen, leaving them in the small sink before I grab the sleeping bags from the closet.
“Oh my God!” I hear Bre scream, and I drop the sleeping bags in my hand and take the steps two at a time to the top deck. As soon as I shove through the door, I scan the deck. When I see Bre bent over the side of the boat, half hanging over, the tips of her toes barely on the wood deck, my heart feels like it’s going to pound out of my chest.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She bolts upright, turns toward me with her eyes wide, and places her finger to her lips. What the fuck?
“Come here,” she whispers, waving her hand back and forth franticly. I start toward her then stop when I hear a hiss and see mist shoot up into the air just off the edge of the boat. “Whales! There are two orcas.” She jumps up and down, her eyes filling with excitement. “Be quiet. I don’t want to scare them off.” She turns back around, leaning over the edge of the boat once more. I step close to her, wrapping my hand around her waist to keep her steady, and look into the water just as shimmering black and white skims the surface. “I’ve never seen one this close,” Bre murmurs, as she reaches out her hand like she’ll be able to touch the orca slowly disappearing back down into the darkness of the cold water. “I think it’s a mom. There’s a smaller one with her.”
She looks around then points. “Oh my God, there he is. Look!” Sure enough, a few feet away, both the mother and her calf come to the surface, blowing and causing a hiss to fill the air. “Holy cow.” She presses her front to mine, wrapping her arms around my waist, and I look down at the top of her head. “You know”—she looks up at me—“this is good luck.”
“What?”
“It’s supposed to be a good omen when you see an orca whale, and we just saw two.” She smiles up at me then turns her head as another hiss comes from farther away.
“It’s an entire pod,” I say, watching the mom and her calf swim toward the three other large whales that are off in the distance.
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